1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a profile system for assembling a plurality of different pieces of furniture and parts thereof, e.g. tables, seats, sofas, beds, hall-stands, lamps, book-shelves, counters, show cases, aquariums and the like.
More particularly, the invention relates to novel profiles which are more versatile than prior art profiles.
The invention also relates to attachment members connectable to profiles.
2. The Prior Art
In the art, wooden pieces of furniture are, in general, manufactured by carpenters. However, pieces of furniture made of plastics or metals have also been proposed. These latter ones can be manufactured in an industrial process, since plastics and metals are more capable of being shaped than wood. Thus, chills having the shape of a piece of furniture can be provided and filled with plastics or metal. Due to the fact that some pieces of furniture are very bulky, those chills are comparatively voluminous. Therefore, it is more convenient to manufacture small parts of pieces of furniture only, these parts being shaped in such a manner that they can be assembled by means of screws or snap elements.
Those small parts of pieces of furniture would also meet the demand of hobby carpenters who want to manufacture their own chairs and their tables.
Whereas it is well-known in the art to sell wooden parts of pieces of furniture only and have these parts assembled by the purchaser, it is not common to sell parts of pieces of furniture made of plastics or metals.
In British Pat. No. 923 965, however, a profile of metal has been proposed which could be used as an element of a table or the like. This patent describes an angle section having a screw channel which is arranged in the corner of the angle section. At its inner side the angle section comprises a groove for inserting additional parts. By means of this well-known angle section, however, it is not possible to assemble good-looking pieces of furniture, because the connecting screws and the like are visible.
More suitable profiles for assembling pieces of furniture have been proposed in the German Patent Application No. 25 19 607. These profiles comprise locking pins and capping means for establishing a snap locking beween the capping and the angle section of the profiles, thus masking the screws which connect the different profiles to each other. However, the guideway means of these profiles for receiving attachment members which are, in turn, connectable to parts of pieces of furniture, are less versatile. Moreover, no attachment members can be clamped into the profiles, and the process of manufacturing the profiles is rather complicated, since two screw channels are provided in the profiles.